BMRC NEWS. Board of Directors. Faculty Advisor. BMRC Staff. Fellowship Program Faculty Advisory Committee Internship Program

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1 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Summer 2015 BMRC NEWS Fellowship Program Faculty Advisory Committee Internship Program Board of Directors Leroy E. Kennedy, Chairperson Vice President, Office of Community Affairs, Illinois Institute of Technology Peter Alter, Vice Chairperson Historian & Director, Studs Terkel Center for Oral History, Chicago History Museum Susan Boone, Treasurer Director of Administration & Operations for the Office of the President & the Office of the Provost, University of Chicago Christopher Stewart, Secretary Asst Professor, Dominican University Aaisha Haykal, University Archivist, Chicago State University Janet Harper, Librarian, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago Valerie Ann Harris, Special Collections Librarian, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois Glenn Humphreys, Librarian, Special Collections, Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library Erik Gellman, Associate Professor of History, Roosevelt University Morris (Dino) Robinson, Jr., Founder, Shorefront Legacy Center Faculty Advisor Jacqueline Stewart Professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the College, University of Chicago BMRC Staff Camille Ann Brewer, Executive Director Anita Mechler, Program Manager / Archivist BMRC Summer 2015, Vol. 1 No Fellowship Program Fourteen Fellows from all over the nation and world descended upon Chicago and local repositories this summer to work on their research projects, culminating in Final Presentations on June 26 at the Chicago History Museum, June 30 at the Harold Washington Library, and on July 30 at Chicago State University s Library. Thank you to the member institutions that welcomed the Fellows with open doors, the archivists who helped facilitate their original research, and to the hosts of the presentations. Unique opportunities abounded such as Fellow Katrina Greene (pictured above) meeting with artist Richard Hunt to discover new information regarding her research subject, William Edouard Scott. 1

2 BMRC Member Institutions Bronzeville Historical Society, Chicago Columbia College, Center for Black Music Research Chicago History Museum, Research Center Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center and Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection Chicago State University, Archives & Special Collections Dominican University, Rebecca Crown Library, Archives & Special Collection Illinois Institute of Technology, Archives and Paul V. Galvin Library Loyola University of Chicago Archives Northwestern University, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Roosevelt University Archives Shorefront Legacy Center Save the Dates! * 2015 Fellow Carlos Javier Ortiz will complete his Fellowship project with a photography exhibit titled Aunt May s Place on the subject of the Great Migration at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. The exhibit opens on Friday, August 7 from 6-9pm, with an artist talk at 6:30pm. Heavy hors d oeuvres, beer, and wine will be served. Free and open to the public. The exhibit will run through to September 13. * The BMRC will celebrate its 10th Anniversary on the evening of October 15, More details will be forthcoming. The Black Metropolis Research Consortium would like to thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for generously supporting an additional three-year cycle of funding for the Summer Short-term Fellowship Program. With this round of funding, the BMRC has introduced a new cohort model in which scholars, researchers, and artists are selected based on their work in broad, yet defined, subject areas. For summer 2015, the Fellows will focus their research on the Great Migration and Journalism. We believe this approach will foster lasting ties and relationships between Fellows and provide the broader community with an opportunity to take in thematic public presentations on Chicago s history. University of Chicago, Special Collections Research Center University of Illinois, Library of Health Sciences, Chicago Special Collections & University Archives, Richard J. Daley Library, Special Collections & University Archives BMRC Summer 2015, Vol. 1 No. 2 2

3 Executive Director s Letter Education and access to archival collections is the focus of our work here at the BMRC. With this mission in mind, the BMRC has had a busy summer facilitating archival access for Fellows participating in the Summer Short-term Fellowship Program, and laying down the groundwork for a new, exciting internship program. The 2015 Summer Short-term Fellowship Program was a great success! As noted in the last newsletter, the BMRC hosted 14 research Fellows as part of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded Summer Short-term Fellowship Program. Fellows focused their research in three subject areas: The Great Migration, journalism and publishing, and art history. The Opening Breakfast event was well attended and buzzing with excitement as the Fellows had the opportunity to meet local archivists, educators, and historians. The final presentation programs were held at BMRC member institutions: the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library - Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago State University Library, and the University of Chicago s Logan Center. All of the final events were well-attended with BMRC stakeholders, Fellows, and other interested parties wanting to learn more about African American life and culture in Chicago. We were pleased with the turn out and hope to grow audience numbers for next year s program. Over the summer, we have been developing the foundation for a new BMRC internship program, which will launch in January This program will be designed to provide paid internships to students of color enrolled in graduate-level archival management and public history programs. In preparing the next generation of archivists, we envision this internship program as providing educational and professional development opportunities for Library and Information Science and History graduate students, as well as recent graduates, to better reflect the diverse society in which we live and work. More information about the program will be announced in the October 2015 issue of the BMRC newsletter. The BMRC has joined the Chicago Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and BMRC staff plans to participate in the upcoming ASALH Centennial Celebrations both in here in Chicago and Atlanta this September. The BMRC staff will also attend the Society of American Archivists meeting in Cleveland in August. From all of these activities, we look forward to bringing back useful information that will help the BMRC grow and thrive. Kudos & Thank You Congratulations to BMRC Member Shorefront Legacy Center recipient of the 2015 Society of American Archivists (SAA) Diversity Award! Dino Robinson will receive the award on behalf of Shorefront at the August 2015 SAA Annual Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. Congrats to Bronzeville Historical Society for rescuing from Springfield the archival records of the Jackson Funeral Home, a long-time Bronzeville institution. BMRC Summer 2015, Vol. 1 No. 2 3

4 Thank you to Danielle Allen for her donation of BMRC founding documents to the BMRC archives. In closing, I want to thank the BMRC member institutions and other BMRC stakeholders for your support and encouragement over the last year as the organization moves forward with new leadership and direction. Best, Camille Ann Brewer Faculty Advisory Committee The BMRC is pleased to announce the formation of the new Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC). The FAC will act as a liaison between the BMRC and its academic member institutions, and will be responsible for advising the BMRC staff on shaping goals and vision for the intellectual/scholarship engagement of BMRC. The committee will meet twice annually in February and early September. The FAC members for the academic year include: Jacqueline Stewart, PhD, University of Chicago, FAC Chairperson Johari Jabir, PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago Lionel Kimble, PhD, Chicago State University Daniel Meyer, University Archivist, University of Chicago Kimberly Black Parker, PhD, Chicago State University Mary Pattillo, PhD, Northwestern University Ralph A. Pugh, University Archivist, Illinois Institute of Technology Christopher Reed, PhD, Roosevelt University Cecilia L. Salvatore, PhD, Dominican University Rosita Sands, PhD, Columbia College Julie Saville, PhD, University of Chicago Elizabeth Todd-Breland, PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago Rebecca Zorach, PhD, Northwestern University About the BMRC The BMRC is an unincorporated Chicago-based membership association of libraries, universities, and other archival institutions, which contain holdings of materials that document African American and African diasporic culture, history, and politics, with a specific focus on materials relating to Chicago. The University of Chicago serves as the host institution of the BMRC and acts as the BMRC s fiscal agent. BMRC Summer 2015, Vol. 1 No. 2 4

5 Black Metropolis Research Consortium Summer Fellowship Program Moments BMRC staff greeted Fellows at the first of several orientations held at the BMRC offices. Sherry Williams from the Bronzeville Historical Society also joined Fellows Kim Gallon and Amani Morrison met with BMRC Faculty Advisor Jacqueline Stewart at the Welcome Breakfast, held at the Quadrangle Club library on June 17. Photo credit: James McKay Audience members at the Fellows Final Presentations hosted at the Chicago History Museum on June 26 consisted of BMRC Board members, other Fellows, and community stakeholders. Presentations also took place at Harold Washington Library on June 30 and at Chicago State University s Library on July 30. BMRC Summer 2015, Vol. 1 No. 2 5